Carpe Diem

Thursday, March 21, 2019Mar 21, 2019

Carpe Diem — “seize the day” — is really about any conceivable day, from the dawn of the universe, to the age of dinosaurs and cavemen, and knights and witches, and medieval diseases, to modern-day couch potatoes and Stone Age diets, iPhone worshippers and androids, 3D printers and Google cars ... and on into the future when television networks compete for the colonization of Mars. Sounds weird? Well, add aliens, ghosts, the Grim Reaper, lots of dogs and cats, and some everyday life, and you’re starting to get a feel for Carpe Diem.

Created by Niklas Eriksson, seasoned moose-milker and bear-wrestler from the northern wilderness of Sweden, Carpe Diem offers comics readers something funny every day. If Monday brought a thinking volcano, Tuesday may bring “CSI: Space Station,” or a barcode-scanning laser tag competition. Carpe Diem has enjoyed great popularity and success in Northern Europe, winning Scandinavia’s biggest comic prize, the Pondus Award, in 2008. And now, Carpe Diem is coming to the rest of the world with Niklas’ far-out humor in tow.

So, what are you waiting for?! Seize the day—seize this comic!

Niklas Eriksson

Imagine living six months in total darkness and then living six months with a sun that will not set. That is reality for Carpe Diem cartoonist Niklas Eriksson, and instead of letting it drive him crazy, he embraces the extremes to help fuel his far-out, funny view of our world. Niklas finds humor in the irreverent, he laughs at the macabre, and he seeks zaniness in the mundane—he’s a true cartoonist!

Niklas was born in 1973 in Umeå, Sweden, a small town in the northern reaches of Scandinavia, where he was weaned on Mad magazine, American superhero comics and Tintin. Today, Niklas still lives in Umeå, where he finds inspiration in comics like The Far Side, B.C., The Piranha Club and Bizarro. Niklas’ deep interest in comics, past and present, has led him to a varied career in cartooning, illustration, and editorial cartooning, but his greatest achievement is his award-winning comic, Carpe Diem.

During the day, while Niklas’ wife, Sofia, is off at work, Niklas takes care of their 5- and 7-year-old kids, mostly boring them with stories of his dream of driving a big, environmentally friendly Jeep in the woods while listening to Bruce Springsteen. This, of course, means that Niklas works at night, fueled by strong hot coffee and big chunks of chocolate. The lack of sleep doesn’t bother Niklas—the big, tough Swede that he is! Besides, his day and night are both the same, anyway!

Carpe Diem Characters

Carpe Diem does not have a cast of regular characters, so we just asked Niklas to give us a sampling of the kinds of "stars" that might appear in his strip. Knights, Vikings, the Devil, aliens, cavemen, you name it. And this is just the tip of the iceberg! ... Hmm, come to think of it, knowing Niklas’ zany sense of humor, you could probably add icebergs to the list of characters! And zebras and tightrope walkers and ...